Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Today Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli announced that the Bruins have signed forwards Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner to entry-level contracts; signed forward Stefan Chaput to a one-year contract extension; and named Kevin Dean the assistant coach for the Providence Bruins of the AHL.

Knight is a 5’11”, 202 Ib. forward who spent a majority of the 2010-2011 season with the OHL’s London Knights and three games with the Providence Bruins. Knight scored 25 goals in 68 games for London and added 45 assists for 70 points, both career highs. Knight also had 2 assists for 2 points in 3 games played with Providence.

Spooner is a 5’10”, 185 Ib. forward who played with three different teams in the 2010-2011 season. He played 50 games with the Kingston Frontenacs (OHL) with 25-37=62 totals in that time. He also played 14 games with the Peterborough Petes (OHL) posting a 10-9=19 line. Finally, the 19-year-old spent three games with the Providence Bruins notching 2 goals and 1 assist for 3 AHL points. Spooner played in 13 career playoff games between the Petes and the Frontenacs, earning 4-4=8 OHL totals in the postseason.

Chaput is a 23-year-old, 6’0”, 192 Ib. forward who spent the 2010-2011 season with three AHL teams including the Providence Bruins, Syracuse Crunch, and Charlotte Checkers. He earned 3-4=7 totals in 15 games played with the P-Bruins and also earned a 3-4=7 line in 27 games played with Syracuse. With Charlotte, Chaput had 0-3=3 totals in 20 games. Chaput spent the three prior seasons with the Albany River Rats (AHL) playing 91 games and posting 14-35=49 totals.Source

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Today Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced that the Bruins have signed defenseman Adam McQuaid to a three-year contract extension through the 2014-15 season.

The 24-year-old McQuaid appeared in 67 games in his first full season with Boston. He scored three goals and tallied 12 assists for 15 points. The rookie compiled 96 penalty minutes, and ended the regular season with a plus/minus rating of +30, which ranked 1st among rookies and fifth overall in the NHL.Source

Chiarelli also announced that the Bruins signed forward Craig Cunningham to an entry level contract and defenseman Zach McKelvie to a one-year contract.

Cunningham, a 5’9” 191 Ib. forward, split his 2010-2011 season between the Portland Winterhawks (WHL) and the Vancouver Giants (WHL), posting 27-60=87 totals in 71 games played between the teams.

The club has also signed McKelvie who played four seasons with the Army Black Knights (AHA) from 2005-2008, notching 14-46=56 totals during that time.Source

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced today two signings, most likely players for Providence (AHL). The Bruins signed forward Jamie Tardif to a two-year contract and forward Josh Hennessy to a one-year contract.

Tardif is a 200-pound, 6'0" forward who has captained the Grand Rapids Griffins (American Hockey League) for the last two-seasons. In the 2010-2011 season the 26-year-old tallied career highs in goals (27), assists (27) and points (54) in 77 games played, with 81 PIM. In five seasons with the Griffins, Tardif has 78-76=154 totals in 316 games played.

The 6'0", 198-pound Hennessy was originally drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. The center spent the 2003-04 season with the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League, where he earned Rookie of the Year honors. He led the Barons in goals (24) and assists (39) for 63 points in 80 games.Source

After Tomas Kaberle signed with the Carolina Hurricanes (3-years $12.75 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes), the Bruins announced that they acquired defenseman Joe Corvo from the Carolina Hurricanes for a fourth round pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Corvo's cap hit is $2,250,000 next season.

Corvo is 34 years old with one year left on his current contract. He is more of an offensive-minded defenseman that can definitely play on the power-play but he is not a good defensive player. He has been a minus player in the last three seasons which is not good (-14 in 2010-11 with Carolina, -10 in 2009-10 with Carolina and Washington, and -1 in 2008-09 with Carolina).

Corvo appeared in all 82 games for the Hurricanes last season and tied career highs in points (40) and assists (29) to go along with 11 goals. He is a veteran of 568 career NHL games split between the Canes, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings. In those 568 games, the 34-year-old native of Oak Park, IL has 79 goals and 179 assists for 258 points.

Corvo has also skated in 45 postseason games in his NHL career with 5-13=18 totals. He played in 20 games for the Ottawa Senators during their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, where he was a teammate of current Bruin Chris Kelly.

The 6'1", 210-pound defenseman was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the fourth round (83rd overall) of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.Source

You can read quotes from Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli and Joe Corvo from the conference call announcing the trade on BostonBruins.com.

Friday, July 1, 2011

The Bruins didn't make any big moves today as free agency opened with many teams throwing money anywhere they could to sign players. Take a look at the Florida Panthers. The only "big" news around the Bruins, I guess it's big, is Michael Ryder signing a 2-year $7 million contract ($3.5 per year) with the Dallas Stars. That's a big contract for a guy who didn't really show up until the playoffs but hey winning the Stanley Cup usually brings these kind of signings for players on the winning team. Good luck Dallas, maybe he'll wake up there and play every game like he is in the playoffs. I doubt it though. Bye bye Ryder.

I shook my head and was disappointed when I heard the Bruins signed former Montreal Canadiens forward Benoit Pouliot to a one-year contract for $1.1 million. This was the guy that took a run at Johnny Boychuk and then fought Andrew Ference after it in the playoffs. He didn't play another playoff game after that. He's the guy that Jack Edwards called one of major disappointments in NHL history and now he's a Bruin. So the Bruins lose Ryder to Dallas and sign another "Michael Ryder type of player" who has talent but just doesn't show up every night or for long periods of time. He's a big guy at 6'3" and has some speed so maybe Claude Julien can get something out of him.

The 24-year-old Alfred, Ontario native played in 79 games for the Montreal Canadiens in the 2010-2011 season and set a career high in points (30), assists (17) and penalty minutes (87) to go along with 13 goals. Pouliot contributed 28 goals and 25 assists in 118 contests for the Canadiens over portions of two seasons.

For his career, the 6'3", 195-pound winger has recorded 37-35-72 totals in 183 NHL games with the Minnesota Wild and Canadiens.Source

The Bruins today also re-signed forward Trent Whitfield to a two-year contract and goaltender Anton Khudobin to a two-year contract. Both will most likely spend next season in Providence (AHL).